Australians for Affordable Housing also looked at the average salary of each job and analysed which workers must spend more than 30 per cent of their income in order to afford the median rents in each capital city.

In the Northern Territory and Queensland less than one in 10 professions pay salaries that can cover median capital city rents by spending less than 30 per cent of the pay cheque.

In the NT just one profession (engineering professionals) out of 86 can cover the median capital city rent for a house.

In Queensland just five professions (health therapy professionals; engineering professionals; financial brokers and dealers, and investment advisers; air and marine transport professionals; medical practitioners) can cover median capital city rents for houses and units.